View full sizeTara Crimmins, 13, and Caleb Yanez, 12, both of Saginaw, perform the El Tranchete with their Xochiquetzal Mexican Folkloric Ballet at the unity picnic sponsored by YWCA of Bay County in 2003 at Birney Park in Bay City.
Michael Randolph | Mlive.com file

SAGINAW, MI – It was at the height of the Chicano movement in the early 1970s that a workshop on traditional Mexican dance at Delta College piqued the interest of women in the community, who went on to found the Xochiquetzal Mexican Folkloric Ballet.

But growing up in Brownsville, Texas, artistic director Carmen Menchaca had a head start on the others, learning many of the routines for her hometown’s annual parade.

“All the schools participated, and our teachers would teach us the dances that we would perform in front of the judges during the parade,” she said. “We lived in a border town, so we would go into Mexico to shop for the shoes and costumes. And we had role models everywhere; our dentist was Mexican-American, and our teachers and the grocers.”

Moving to Saginaw was a culture shock, she said. While her English skills were strong, there was little in the schools and community that nurtured her Mexican heritage. She later worked as a traveling teacher, going into classrooms to teach elementary students about the traditions of Spanish-speaking cultures. She retired in 2010.

And with Xochiquetzal, which numbered 43 dancers in the early 1990s, she shared her musical heritage during the Detroit Tigers’ Fiesta celebrations, at the Cinco de Mayo festivities and most recently at the opening of the Latino folk art exhibit at Saginaw Valley State University’s Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum.

“We don’t exclude anyone,” Menchaca said of the dance troupe. “We’ve had caucasian and African-American dancers, and when we come together, we’re family. We have kids who started with us in kindergarten and are now going to White Pine Middle School.

“We have alumni from as far away as San Antonio coming back for our anniversary. We have such great kids; they make me feel so alive.”